Battle Brothers is an open world turn-based strategy game inspired by Jagged Alliance and X-Com

I admit it, the headline is really long. I always hated writing headlines anyway and it’s not like the thing has to fit on a newspaper page, so leave me alone. Oh? Battle Brothers from Overhype Studios currently in development for PC, Mac and Linux? Sure, yeah, we can talk about that, I guess. There’s a trailer above these typed words about it, in fact. You may have already watched it. It appears to be a game about disembodied busts of warriors who occasionally behead each other. And it may be that! But it promises to be much more. Battle Brothers, which is expected on Early Access in early 2015 and to be released by mid 2015, touts many features including procedural world creations and characters, permadeath (I love permadeath), lots of enemies, and RPG-esque leveling and inventory. You can actually check out a demo of the tactical combat, if that is your sort of thing, which it probably should be. There’s also a pretty lengthy gameplay explanation video available, too. BEHOLD MY VIDEO SORCERY:

Even more info is available on the Battle Brothers Greenlight page or on the official web site. I’ve given the demo a few minutes and it actually has, from what I see, six different scenarios in it demonstrating the combat. The game appears really basic if you just load up the first tutorial level, but the second level shows off things like the various heights as well as fog of war. The gameplay is really quite boardgame-y, which is good because I like boardgames. The soldiers are very much ‘pieces’ (what with being busts on stands) and they move form one spot to another as if lifted and set down (or jumping). I really dig how the enemies show damage as you battle them and the art style is nice and consistent. Of course, it’s early in development, but I’m definitely excited to see how this develops as it nears early access in the upcoming months.

About Michael

Michael is an enthusiast about a lot of things, including indie games, roleplaying games, board games, and comic books that wanted to help create a place where he could bring things to the attention of those with similar interests. Futile Position is a true labor of labor, which he hopes continues to grow through the support of the great readers who have come upon this page.